The Curse of the Blood Stone
by M.S. Dae
Summary: In order to save the world, the Titans and their allies gave their powers, memories, and lives. But twelve years after the fall of the last Titan, the Blood Stone is found, along with the wrath of its awesome power very slight AU Titansnextgeneration
1. The Brilliant Red Part 1

**Hello it's Ms. CJ Lucas here with her first long fic! (slaps self in face for speaking in third person) ow…well this is… I'm not sure you could say AU even though I did change a few things…well it's kind of Titan next generation. Who am I kidding, it IS Titans next generation, but even more complicated than that (hehe…yes this is the result of staying locked in a room with five different colors on the walls…) well you'll see (or technically read). Try to guess who each character's parent(s) is/are, I'm trying hard to confuzzle people!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Teen Titans I would have money.**

**The Curse of the Blood Stone**

**Episode One **

**Part One**

**The Brilliant Red**

The cool rush of air through her long, shining, black mane gave her the illusion of the invisible wings of freedom. Her long legs thudded heavily yet gracefully against the pavement, almost soft beneath her strong calves. Opening her wide sky blue eyes, she saw Coach Nickson motioning with her hands to come of the track and speak to her. Nina cut across the track and onto the fresh smelling grass.

Catching her breath she stood before her coach, slowly transforming back into the shy timid girl she truly was without her wings. "Yes Coach?" she asked, her eyes strangely fixated on the tip of her left sneaker.

Her Coach sternly looked her up and down for a minute, and then spoke. "Nina, I know you refused track try-outs," at this Nina blushed. "And cross-country, and volleyball…and well everything I've suggested so far," she paused as if to make sure she had gained Nina's attention. When she finally looked up she continued. "You really have talent Nina, I've spoken to your creative writing teacher, he says you have a real passion for water. If you would just combine your passion with your skill and maybe try for the swim team or diving team…you'd get so incredibly far."

Nina blushed, her fragile porcelain skin shading to a light pastel pink. "I…I can't. I mean…I just… I really wouldn't do very well at all," she mumbled, and then looked back down at the sea of green, wishing more than ever for the earth to open and sallow her up.

"Nina, I'm the swim Coach, I know it's a competitive sport, most kids have been doing this for years and years, but I really honestly think if you worked on it for a few months, you could really get somewhere!" Coach Nickson looked down at Nina, only to see that she had caused her even more embarrassment by the way Nina hung her head lower in order to hide her flushed face. "All right Nina," she sighed. "Could you at least tell me _why_ you won't try anything? And don't give the I'm-not-good-enough-crap for once."

Nina searched for words to honestly answer her, but was having difficulty finding sentences that wouldn't make her sound stupid. She couldn't say it was because she felt she had an unfair advantage, that something inside her told her it wasn't right, that wasn't what her gift was for, because the only thing Coach Nickson would get out of that would be that she had some slight mental disturbances. Finally she came up with an excuse that wasn't completely dishonest. "I ...don't …I don't like the idea of competing very much Coach…I'm sorry," she hung her head lower, ashamed that she couldn't even give her Coach the true answer she deserved. She owed it to her to be ashamed and sorry.

"Nina it's fine, you have no reason to be sorry. But I hope you know talent and skill is just going to waste, and that your ok with that," she looked down at her watch. "Tell you what, you've finished way more than your share of laps today. Why don't you go home now and think about what I offered you, ok?"

"But Coach I…."

"Don't worry about it. You'll only be leaving 15 minutes earlier than anyone else. You walk home so you'll be fine. If anyone catches you blame me for it all right? Go home and think about your future," she reached over Nina's right shoulder and patted her back. "See ya champ," she winked at her, and then walked away to yell at some girls who were laying in the grass giggling.

That night Nina thought about it and couldn't get it off her mind. Not her opportunities, but her unusual skill, she was tall and gangly in the most awkward way; her feet were narrow and large, and her skin was ghostly pale. She had never aspired to be an athlete, and she was never aware of her talents until third grade when she first played kickball. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy sports, she did. When she did play she felt mild pleasure, but when she did play sports she always felt it was a childish game, something beneath her that she shouldn't waste so much time on. She hated that feeling, the feeling of arrogance and conceit, for she knew she was superior to no one in any way, despite the nagging feeling of greatness within her.

Nina felt like she needed a walk that night in order to think things over. She stood from her desk where her homework lay nearly finished. She pushed her chair back, grabbing her jacket from it's back, and walked a few steps to right in order to reach her window. She pulled it open and then slipped out quietly so as not to wake her mother.

The night was fresh and the air was chilly, but it seemed it was never too cold for Nina. In fact, she loved it. She was just the opposite over her mother, who preferred the warmth the sun and the hot summer days. Her mother was shorter than herself, and her hair was a curly dark brown rather than the straight raven black her own was. Her mother was always reading and was an extremely intelligent woman. Nina herself wasn't dimwitted, but lacked the intellectual skills her mother possessed. She wasn't as head strong, nor as talkative as her mother, yet she loved her all the same.

As she stepped onto a dirt path that lead to her favorite spot however, her thoughts shifted to a subject that always seemed like an unfinished story, like eating one potato chip and not another; her father.

She often asked about him, if he would have liked this, or if he would have done that; her mother was her only source to him. According to her mother, he gave her the first name Cerdian after some fantasyland that was somehow in ties with Atlantis. She found it a funny name, but no funnier than middle name her mother gave her, Athena.

He was a marine biologist according to her mother, a dedicated man who loved his work, and his family. Her mother told her she resembled him in some ways, she was more athletic like he was, and her mother said she looked uncannily like her father. In fact the only difference (besides that she was a girl) was that her eyes were the color of her mother's, soft blue instead of her father's black.

But whenever she asked her mother about his death she would always find away around telling her, making any excuse possible to avoid the subject. It bothered her that her mother couldn't tell her, but was sure it was a hard for her mother to swallow his death, even twelve years later.

Walking down the short dirt path, surrounded by tall trees that leaned in her direction, dark and gothic in the night, she finally reached her destination; Lake Creature. It was called this because several years back two teenage boys swore on their lives to have seen some unknown beast, hideous and evil and filled with rage. Many people pushed it aside as a hallucination, their mind's punishment for wandering around late at night by themselves. Either way, the story became a local urban legend and the small lake had been unofficially named Lake Creature.

Most kids feared the lake at night, daring each other to swim in it or sleep on its bank. It was a rather locally famous spot for initiations and senior pranks.

Nina didn't care though, she thought it was most beautiful at night, calm and serene like the moon itself. She pulled of her jacket and than her socks. She walked around for a little while, just thinking about life in general, when she decided to swim.

It wouldn't be her first time either. Unlike the others she had no fear for any creatures, not even water snakes or any other creepy forms of life that might enjoy the lake at later hours. Another part of Nina's gift was nature, and animals took a strange fondness to her, she almost felt like she knew what they wanted, and they in turn understood her, especially animals that resided in the water. She never told anyone of this or of her late night swims, knowing that this was strange and bizarre to others. But to her it felt just right, like she had to do this, as though there was no other way.

She walked in, the water caressing her feet as small clouds of sediment burst from the ground. She continued walking forward until the water reached midway her upper torso, then she began to swim.

The water felt even more wonderful than the air that afternoon as she ran, that her wings in the water were more powerful than ever, she felt more alive, more free. She swam mostly underwater, so not to disturb it's peaceful surface, but her strange gift always made her seem graceful, that she also was a part of this lake, that she belonged their and had always been a part of the lake's ongoing cycle of nature.

She swam much longer than she usually did that night, and reached the other end of it, where she had never been before. The lake was small, but not small enough to swim in the 15 minutes she usually swam once every few weeks.

But tonight she had swam well over and hour, and was exhausted when she reached the other side. She had really lost her self in swimming, never like she had before.

But as she waded out and onto the bank, her foot hit something hard and unusually cold. For a split second all she could think of was the beast of the lake, and that it had caught her, that this was one of her final moments. Fear washed over her, and as if a kind of strange instinct, she bent over and grabbed it in less than two seconds.

But what she pulled up wasn't a tentacle or claw of some monstrous beast, she realized by how small and light it was in contrast to those things. When she looked down into her palm she found a stone so brilliantly red that she could see it despite the lack of light. It bore a resemblance to a large, glowing marble, mesmerizing and stunningly beautiful. In her hand she felt as though she held the weight of the world, like she had some odd dictating power. She feared it, but all the same she needed it, as though part of her was the stone.

Weeks had passed after she found the stone; it was now in the corner of her closet in an old shoebox. She had partially forgotten about it, she was very busy with schoolwork and had been planning a trip to visit her best friend Megan, who moved several hours away by car after her mother had died to live with her grandparents. Megan was Nina's only friend, their were other people with whom she associated her self with and talked to occasionally, but only Megan really understood her the way her mother couldn't, and she and Megan always had the best of times together.

It was natural that Nina barely noticed when a new boy handed her homeroom teacher his schedule and was directed to sit in the empty seat next to her. In fact she didn't notice until an eruption of girlish whispers disturbed her deep thoughts.

"He's so hot!"

"You think he's a transfer?"

"I wonder if he's going to the Spring Fling dance…"

"Just look at his eyes! Their so mysterious!"

Nina was slightly startled by this odd dialogue and searched the classroom for its source; eventually realizing it was the dark haired, handsome boy next to her.

Nina faced the front of the classroom hoping to be able to concentrate on today's creative writing assignment rather than the tremendously attractive boy next to her. But she couldn't help but hope to hear his name as she copied down her homework in her agenda.

After Mr. Parker finished the roll, he called on the new student.

"What's your name again?" He asked, preparing to add it to the roll.

The good-looking boy picked up his head from a book he had been reading and said in a somewhat raspy voice, "Robin Logan. But I go by my middle name, Roth."

**Ah, not so much into action yet, but mystery boy is a little less mysterious now, huh? Lol well it's not like I know what I'm doing, I had to look up a lot of character backrounds, Even if this is mainly based on Cartoon Network's Teen Titans, most of my character information comes from D.C. Comics. Ahh…rambling. Well it will get more interesting, promise! Please review, Nina really wants to know more about Roth (ipoo!) AHHH KITTTEN HAS INHABITED MY MIND!**

**See ya!**

**(Serious as a heart attack)**

**-CJ **


	2. The Brilliant Red Part 2

**Hey-lo! I know its been FOREVER, and I'm so flippin' sorry! Oh and just for the record, I haven't read the Teen Titan comic books! So sorry I didn't say before, but I've been using the web as a resource. Anywho I've been having some writer's block (sure….excuses excuses). I'm really not sure what I'm doing(just to make you all feel secure), but where there's a will, there's a way! Please R&R and as always, little notes to my wonderful reviewers at the end!**

**Onward!**

**The Curse of the Blood Stone **

**Episode One **

**The Brilliant Red (Part 2)**

"_Robin Logan. But I go by my middle name, Roth."_

The words rung in Nina's head wildly as she was temporarily blinded by a brilliant red, and nothing else. _The stone, _she thought.

"Nina, are you paying attention?" called Mr. Parker, giving her a stern look that made the question seem more like a demand.

Nina's cheeks flushed as she snapped from her trance and realized she had been zoning away from class. She meant to give a quiet apology, but Mr. Parker went on.

"Today were going to be starting a new project," he said rising from his chair. "Your going to co-write a short-story with another classmate," as he said this several girls giggled in hopes that Roth would be their partner.

"Of course," he said, cutting their laughter short, "I will assign partners. I'll hand out a sheet with the details, a minimum of two thousand words, and you can pick from the genres given on the hand-out. It's due by Friday first period, not second Peterson!"

Mr. Parker handed the papers to a girl in front of him to pass out. As she did so, he called out partners in no distinct pattern. The pairs grouped themselves, moving to corners and pushing desks together, as was routine in Mr. Parker's class during group projects. When everyone had been paired but Nina and Roth, he walked over to the two of them and placed his hands on each of their desktops.

"Roth, have you been showed around the school yet?" asked Mr. Parker as he craned his long neck down for the response.

"Just to this class, but I'm going down to guidance during lunch," responded Roth, his deep tone capturing the attention of every female within earshot.

"Well, your schedule seems very similar to Nina's…," Roth's face expressed some surprise at his knowledge of Nina's daily routine, but Nina was not the least bit phased by it. Nina, who was secretary of 'LitClub'(a club which produced a bimonthly mini 'zine' of 6 or 7 pages, usually containing a short and a political cartoon or two) which was run by Mr. Parker, was very accustomed to being pulled out of class for various requests and updates on meetings and deadlines. "Nina, since your in guidance, would you mind showing Roth around? Possibly inform him on some after school activities?" he smiled hopefully. If there was anything that could get no nonsense Mr. Parker to smile, it was just that.

Nina nodded and smiled, still slightly shaken from the strange sensation that had overcome her.

"Good, good. Now get to work you two."

Several days later Nina sat at her desk, thinking about the interesting new student she had just met. Showing Roth around was not difficult, he was kind and chivalrous, and didn't bother to ask many questions. Most new students that Nina had come across asked many tiring questions about the school's intricate scheduling and bell system. Nina, having always been very shy, felt uncomfortable answering the questions, always feeling she was rambling. She didn't, however, feel this discomfort with Roth, who seldom spoke when not discussing their story, and always seemed lost in his own world, accepting things for the way they were and not concerned with much else.

Nina had been cleaning her room, for Roth was coming over so that they could finish their short story together to turn in the following day. Roth had come up with a brilliant story plot about death and rebirth, feeding his ideas to her almost as if they were established facts, which they most likely were in his own mind. Nina came up with the details and contributed most of the actual written part of it, for he had little ways with words and minor factors, for his creative mind seemed to overlook them.

Thinking of the second paragraph of the third page that needed drastic editing, and also of Roth and his grand talent, she was very startled by the vibrating of her pants and fell on the floor, sending a stack of papers to the ground. She grabbed her phone with a shaky hand and answered it.

"He-hello?"

"Hey it's Roth," came Roth's calmed voice.

"Oh, um, hi," Nina said as she pushed herself up from the floor and collected the mess she had made.

"I kinda forgot, but did you say your house number was 6223, or 6232?"

"Oh, well um, actually it's 7332."

"Oh, okay, then I'm here," he said, slightly relieved. "Well, see ya then."

"Uh, bye!" she heard a click and fell down on her bed completely alleviated.

It had been a while since she had spoken to anyone on the phone besides Megan or family, and it felt very foreign and awkward to her.

Realizing what Roth had just said, Nina jumped up from her bed and hurried to the door. Opening it before Roth could knock, she mumbled a few apologies that Roth could barely hear.

"Um…you didn't do anything…" he stated, thoroughly confused.

"I know I'm sorry," Nina uttered again, staring down at her feet.

Roth stepped in the house and handed Nina the copy of the story they had been working on. "Your parents home?" he asked.

"No, my mom's at work." Replied Nina sheepishly.

"Oh ok." He said indifferently. "Do you wanna get started?"

Nina nodded and leaded him to her room. Seeing several pairs of shoes before her door, he followed suit and took off his own.

"So I was thinking, around the second chapt…" Nina stopped before her bed, her mouth hung open in shock.

"Is everything ok?" Roth looked from Nina to her bed and back again. But when he looked back to it again, he saw a luminously red stone. He felt the stone call to him, hundreds of voices all in one song of eternity crying his name through any means but words.

Something out of the corner of his eye broke the bizarre moment and he saw Nina falling to the ground. He dove down and caught her before her head had hit the wooden floor and called her name.

"Nina, Nina are you okay?" he asked frantically, realizing she had blacked-out, and would not respond.

Looking down to the back of her wrist, he saw a gash that hadn't been there the moment before, bleeding profusely. Trying not to panic, he lifted her up, seated her in the chair at her desk, and tried to think of what to do. Call her mother? Where would he find the number? An ambulance?

As he pondered a plan something extraordinary happen. The blood from Nina's arm slowly lifted from her wound, strands of it stretching from the skin kissing it good-bye. Then it formed itself in midair into a single strand of glittering crimson, floating slowly to Nina's bed. The route was a complex one, one with twists and turns and glimmers of the sunlight that poured from the window reflecting off this new being. Roth held his breath, entirely terrified, too petrified to have any rational thoughts, or to allow his body to cope with the fear.

The blood continued swaying in the air, taking an obvious course to the stone. It dipped slowly hoping to unite with the stone, and when the phenomena reached its desired location, a red flash consumed the room, illuminating everything beneath its glow. Protectively, Roth pulled his left wrist close to him, covering it with his right hand. But when his fingers touched his skinned, he realized his useless form of defense against the supernatural was too late.

The world went black, and Roth was captivated by its darkness.


	3. The Forgotten

**Gosh I'm lazy. Well summer is FINALLY here so I can update! No point in apologizing, I'm sure you all have found it very annoying by now, I'm always bad with updating (strong urge to apologize…). This chapter has been a huge debate with the plot pickles upstairs so I think I'm just going to roll with it, see what happens:) And thank you SOOO much to the reviewers. Taking your time to Read and review any one of my stories honestly means a lot to me!**

**Disclaimer- I write one every once in a while…Teen Titans is not mine. Duh.**

**Ok, here we go! (hehe, Mario)**

**

* * *

Episode 2****The Forgotten**

Hannah Stone finished her shower and wrapped herself in a towel that hung on a nearby rack. The steam billowed around her and momentarily clouded her vision, so that she could not find her clothes and left her to search around blindly.

"Damn," she muttered harshly, when she realized that Monica had probably found it a grand opportunity to play a prank on her and steal her clothes.

Hannah left the bathroom, her slightly pruned feet tickling against the carpet, and walked to her dorm across the hall with the pathetic blue and neon green "Girls Rule!" poster with the giant smiling flower on the face of the door. Apparently someone had taken the initiative to draw a fine curling mustache on it with a sharpie. A very nice touch if she did say so herself.

Inside she found no one, as most everyone was at the dance that night, the one that Hannah had found to pointless to attend. She walked over to her dresser, but when she opened her "leisure attire" drawer, she found the clothes there weren't at all her own, but messily tossed around cut-up band shirts and grunge styled jeans. Appalled that Monica would take a prank that far, she opened her "uniform" drawer in hopes that at least those articles went unharmed. But she could not recall every once owning so many skirts two sizes too small, and only one white shirt with (what seemed to be) pen stains all over the front.

"That girl," she hissed, speaking to herself yet again that night. She walked over the pile of hideous laundry between her and Monica's wardrobe and opened it in search of a bathrobe. It was the least she could do for herself that was entirely justified.

She found one with small yellow ducks printed on it and found it would do. She went to the closet to find some slippers, but found that nothing of hers was there either. Where had all of her stuff gone?

She rummaged around the entire room for any of her possessions, but she found they were all gone. Her pictures, gone, her letters from home, gone, anything and everything that was hers was gone! She was going to get Monica…maybe Dale had something to do with it too! Oh she'd get them all right…

The door clicked open, and she assumed somebody had forgotten a purse or something of the like. She was very pleased to see that it was Monica, her dark brown hair flowing in perfect curls down her thin tanned shoulders.

"Monica," Hannah seethed angrily.

Monica looked at her quizzically. "Um hi, are you a friend of Addy's or something?" She walked over to her dresser and fumbled around for some lip-gloss.

Hannah stared at Monica disbelievingly. She had some nerve.

"Hey wait," she said, setting down the cosmetics and wrinkling her pretty nose in confusion. "Isn't that _my_ bathrobe?"

"Very good. Now where's my clothes? And all my stuff?" Hannah stood up and stomped her way towards her, fire blazing in her hazel eyes.

"Wh-who are you? Do you even go here!" Monica, scared, backed up into a wall and pulled up her hands in an innocent plea.

The door opened again, a small giggle could be heard on the intruder's way in. "Monica… What's taking you so long?"

"Addy! Do you know her?" Monica screeched in a half-relief.

The blonde girl looked at Hannah and shrugged her shoulders. "No why?"

"Oh my God! Go get Ms. Hinton or something, she's taking my stuff!" she whined, pulling herself off the wall and towards the door.

Hannah snorted impatiently. Some girls had the _biggest _egos. "Don't bother, _I'll _get her," She pushed the two girls out of her way and stomped down the hall muttering angrily to herself. When she was turning the corner that led to the main hall, someone rushed into her, knocking her down to the ground. Her head collided with the floor and a searing pain flooded to her brain.

Hannah groaned and slowly lifted a hand to rub her eyes.

"Hannah! We gotta go, now!" said a rushed, but familiar voice.

"Dale?" she asked, squinting open her eyes to see a tall boyish form towering over her.

"Ya, now c'mon!" and before she could question him any further he grabbed her arm and ran out past several offices to the entrance of the school.

"Dale don't-" but before she could say more he flung open the main door and set off a racket of blaring madness.

Hannah looked behind her, and saw that several administrators were making their way down the halls towards the door.

Dale looked over his shoulder, and seeing what she did, sped up so that he ran at a seemingly impossible speed. Realizing this she looked down to her feet in hopes that she'd find this was all a dream. But she found that her feet burned with an inconceivable amount of pain, a track of blood staining the pavement below her. The force of the air against her tore at her eyes, a stream of tears making their way towards her hair. The night enveloped them in a mask of darkness so that she knew not where they were going, her mind racing as fast as her heart, just where we're they going? What was going on?

"Dale!" She attempted to shout over the intense whistle whipping at her ears, but only manage to choke down the forceful wind in front of her.

Dale suddenly came to a surprising halt, leaving Hannah to slam into him unwillingly. His back was cold and hard, as though he covered himself with metal.

"Dale, what the he-" but again he cut her off with a hush and pulled her towards what she made out to be an automobile of some sort.

She looked around and strained her eyes, finding the area vaguely familiar. Then she recognized it, the teacher's parking lot. What in the world were they doing there?

She heard a great deal of cluttering and banging behind her, so she turned her head sharply towards the noise.

"Dale…?" she whispered in apprehension, for she could barely see in front of her.

"Mmm… c'mon," Dale's voice came, and then his arm, pulling her towards the previously identified mechanism. Approaching, she realized it was the flashy convertible Ms. Hinton showed up in every morning. He had managed to unlock the door and was pulling her to jump into the passenger seat next to him. She was about to refuse, when she heard a loud chorus of yells behind her. She climbed in quickly.

Dale fiddled with the car, his head beneath the wheel, entangle in a readjustment of wires.

"They're coming! Hurry!" She squeaked, not so sure what she was nervous for.

The car started with a pleasant purr that roared over the callings of angered administrators. Terrified, Hannah gripped onto the dashboard, half planning to jump if all else failed. But that would be completely unnecessary. For with her touch, the vehicle levitated into the night sky.

* * *

Nina rang the doorbell several times, anxiously awaiting any sort of answer. _Please,_ she thought. _Please let there be somebody home._ Roth stood beside her, holding the heated red stone beneath his arm. When they had awoken in her room, stark naked, they found that it wasn't her room at all, and feeling an odd presence about the room, Nina requested they leave immediately. She had lead him to a slightly aged apartment complex, both wearing strangely feminine gothic attire.

At last the door opened, and she saw her cousin Sarah standing before her, a curiously dazzled expression across her face.

"Sarah…" she was at a lost for words. What could you tell someone when you just had an unbelievable supernatural experience?

"How do you know I remember you?" Sarah huffed nervously, her dirty blonde hair frizzing around her worried face.

Nina was unsure of her question, but if she knew anything about what was going on (and she could tell that she did), then she had an idea of what she meant. "Well…I don't…"

"Because nobody else does," Sarah rushed, her voice shaking uncontrollably.

"I really don't know what's going on…" Nina told her, sheepishly eyeing the snail on the cracking pavement.

"When were you going to tell me?" Sarah stomped on the moldy welcome mat and grabbed a hold of Nina's shoulders, staring her straight in the eye.

"Tell you what…?" Nina shook her head slowly to show that she did not understand.

Sarah looked at her in disbelief. "So it's true then…I'm the guardian…and you're…you're,"

She took a quick breath and let go of Nina, taking a few steps back.

"The Messiah."

* * *

**Dun dun dun!** **I'm pretty sure this was a bit longer than the last one right? Well I've been doing my research like a good little girl, and the next chapter should be pretty nifty. Oh, and you got a nice peek at Hannah and Dale, so you can guess their parents too! Yay! Now you can play with my ego, review!**

**Thank you so much to those who reviewed!**

**Liamble- Please don't die! I would be very sad! Thank you for reviewing, I hope you'll like what comes up next!**

**Cheshire92- I'm really glad you liked it that much, and you're definitely on the right track with Nina:) Thanks!**

**Pices-aquarius- Yay! I like kudos! Thanks for reviewing both chapters, I'd so give you a cookie, but my brother ate them. Thank you again!**

**Well adios amigos,**

**(At the mercy of a mile)**

**CJ**


	4. The Guardian's Tale

**Ohh wow…almost abandoned this one…almost. But if I get enough feedback, I plan on updating this every one to two weeks…so how bout it? Make my Dae. (haha, I'm so witty! everyone rolls eyes) **

**Disclaiming.**

**Episode 3**

**The Guardian's Tale**

Sarah's cold hands picked at the stray fibers hanging off the arm of the couch as her eyes scanned the room, a nervous ghost spoiling her pristine eyes. It was all she could do to keep herself from going absolutely insane as the two adolescences before her scanned the pages of the ancient text she had provided them with. Nina gently pushed the pages towards her companion, whom Sarah learned was named Roth, and patiently watched Sarah until she was comfortable with giving Nina her attention.

"Um, so…do you know what it is?" Sarah asked Nina in a timidly hopeful voice.

Nina shook her pretty dark hair and responded with a worried tone, "I thought you did."

"No, I found it in my mom's old stuff the other day when I was cleaning it out for the move…" she coughed and momentarily broke eye contact. "No one knows who you are anymore Nina, not even your own mother."

Roth looked up from the pages, engrossed in their conversation. "She…I called your house and… I really tried Nina but no one knows you!" Her light blue eyes brimmed with tears and she buried her face with the palms of her small hands.

Nina stared at her helplessly, not allowing the meaning of Sarah's words to sink in. She offered her a helpful hand but Sarah pushed it away.

"Do you even get how serious this is? Do you even know? Your own _mother_ doesn't know you for crying out loud!" She threw her pillow from her lap and rose from the couch, towering angrily over Nina. But her anger faltered and the wavering fear was evident.

Nina pulled her cousin back to the couch with a gentle tug of her hand. " What do you mean? I was talking to her this morning before I left for-"

"Nina…" Sarah shook her head gently and reached for the smooth cordless phone on the stand beside the couch and offered it to her.

Nina took it, unconvinced. She dialed her mother's work number and pressed the speaker button, waiting patiently as the rings cut cleanly through the air.

"Sam's Auto Insurance, Jenna Michaelson speaking, how may I help you?" Came her mother's voice. But Michaelson? Nina looked at phone curiously.

"Um…mom?" She asked.

"Alice sweetie? Oh it's you. Hey listen, I'm really busy right now, but could you tell Jim I'll be home by six? Thanks love ya," A smooching sound was made like a fish out of water, and then a click. Nina stared at the phone in shock as the dial tone blared its monotonous cry.

"That wasn't…" She tried to find the words to convince herself, but there were none. The blatant truth sat right in front of her.

"Like I said…"Sarah threw a glance over towards Roth and the giant leather bound book. "Something freaky's going on, and all the answers are in that book."

Nina looked around dumbfounded, not willing to believe the words her cousin spoke. "Who's…Alice?"

Sarah smiled weakly. "I'm sorry Nina. But like I said, you don't exist anymore. She told me Alice is her only daughter."

"And Jim?"

"Her husband."

Nina's eyes blurred as she made her way towards the coffee table beside Roth to examine the book once again. Roth moved over and allowed her to flip the pages between her porcelain hands. The large curved text flowed through her misted eyes, the words from the hand of a calligraphy mistress. Many unidentifiable letters skimmed the pages of a language Nina was unsure of. After several minutes she lifted her eyes to meet Sarah's.

"What was it you said about a guardian?" her voice barely above a hoarse whisper.

Sara came to the table and flipped the yellowed paper to the last page. She stood back, and allowed Nina to read the single page of English out loud.

"_And should the evil be awakened, The Stone will be revived_ _and_ _at the appropriate time, The Stone shall pick her leader and draw his blood first from the chosen league._" Nina looked at Roth and they exchanged a worried glance. She took a deep breath and continued, "_The Guardian will bring the secret of The Stone to The Messiah, and with these words he will beacon the league to his presence."_ Nina paused unsure of whether or not to continue.

"Go on," Sarah nodded.

"_The…the expired souls of The Infinite League… The Mighty Titans_" She stammered nervously. "_Your leader summons you on behalf of The Blood Stone and to your leaders throughout the world of humankind._"

Nina exhaled slowly, and put a shivering hand to her moist forehead. Beneath this read a loopy signature to the agreement of The Guardian. The Guardian would be the signer's daughter. Beneath the coiled font read the name Gretchen Smalls. Sarah's mother.

The Stone sat beneath a large potted fern in the corner beside the front door, letting off an aura of deep crimson the shade of the pulsating wound on her frail wrist.

* * *

Hannah slammed the car door shut. The car was covered in broken branches and slick with the rain. They had been flying for hours. The blanket of night crept onto the scene of day, bleeding its hues of mellow reds and pinks through the floating clouds. Hannah felt extremely tired. Dale stumbled out of the car too and walked over to Hannah, where she was sitting on the dirt bank next the large lake they had landed just short of.

Hannah turned to look at her brother and her jaw dropped. His body was covered in rusted metal, bursting through his right shirtsleeve, ripping through the seams, even the back of his head bore the foreign metal. "Dale…" she gasped.

Dale grinned slightly at her, revealing the tips of his front teeth. "I know."

"But, but, shouldn't you…aren't you…"

"I was, but I guess it's kind of cool," Dale offered his hand to her.

She stared at it, the crevices of his fingers laced with small black lines that acted as joints, allowing his fingers to curl slightly in her direction.

"I'm still human," he joked, pulling her up off the floor.

"hmm? Oh right," she huffed, wiping the dirt off her knees. She was about to apologize when a flash of crimson struck her, blinding her for several moments of everything but the flashing pigment.

"Hannah, are you okay?" Dale waved his left arm free of metal before her blank face.

Reality came back to her and she grabbed Dale's shoulders with a firm grip. "We've got to go south."

Dale looked at her questioningly. "Okay…"

"Trust me."

* * *

Several loud knocks sounded from the door of Sarah's apartment. Sarah stood and answered it, Nina and Roth at her heel.

From behind the door two unfamiliar faces appeared. Two adolescences, one female one male, of light brown skin and sharp features of intelligence and wit. The male was covered in a rusting metal suit and both seemed tired and out of breath.

"Umm…" The girl said, uncertainty in her dark blue eyes.

Nina looked at her and understood. "Come in."

**Yay! Another chapter complete. I want to thank all the reviewers from chapter one, your thank yous were accidentally deleted while I was editing  sorry. So thank you to onyxworrystone, pices-aquarius, ImaginePeace, and Liamble. And muchas gracias to RaleighIncognito for reviewing chapter three. Able to figure anything out yet? )**

**Love,**

**(Our dreams are patent-pending)**

**CJ**


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